MOA: Chapter 4
The Mark of Athena: Chapter List Chapter 4: Percy Percy was not sure why he agreed to the duel. He was exhausted. But then again, so was Jason. He was hoping some source of water could be to his advantage, but he could not sense any nearby. Reyna had thought of everything. Jason lunged, and Percy swept his sword up to deflect the strike. Percy had to be flexible, and adapt to the Roman fighting style. His Greek training allowed him to search his opponents weaknesses, and exploit them to his own advantage. Only problem was, Jason didn't have very many weaknesses. After a few minutes of sword banging, Percy noticed Jason pretty much repeated a pattern of strikes, with a few parries in between, so Percy devised a way to sweep past his guard. He almost did it. But Jason must have detected a change in his stance, and twisted his blade at the last second. It was an old move, the same move Luke and taught Percy so many years ago. But Percy was so caught up in his near success, he didn't notice. Unfortunately for Jason, Riptide was magical, and his simple gladius didn't stand a chance. It broke, as Riptide was flung off the fortress. Percy saw Jason grin, and Jason pulled out another gladius. "That was a standard issue gladius. This one's from Juno." Percy had to do something, and quick. He jumped back, and reached in his pocket. Riptide had returned, as he knew it would. He pulled it out, uncapped it, and parried a strike from an astonished Jason. "I've got some tricks too." Percy taunted. The duel resumed. Percy was growing weary. Suddenly, he heard a swoosh, and Jason disappeared. Percy twisted around, and found Jason standing behind him, having used the wind to jump over him. Jason then summoned more winds, until he was sustaining a mini cyclone. Percy was in a bad situation. Fortunately, he noticed a side effect of the winds: they were blowing more and more clouds to him. It began to rain. Laughing, Percy channeled his power through the water, and combated the buffeting cyclone of Jason with a hurricane of his own. "Stop!" Reyna cried. "You two are going to collapse the fort!" Percy stopped. He was truly astonished to see cracks along the ground. But then again, it was built in a day, unlike Rome. He walked over to Jason, and shook his hand. "I guess that was a draw then," Jason offered. "I suppose so." Percy agreed. They left the fort, while Reyna spread the word that the game was over, ending in a draw, Percy went to find Annabeth. To his relief, she was unhurt, and had apparently almost tricked the guards. Percy noticed she seemed to be slightly mad that Percy had ended the game without her permission, but once again to his relief, she didn't mention it. The war games were over, Percy thought. It was definitely less eventful than the last one. Especially since they tied. Partially, he was glad. He had already had his fill of eventful days. Even though he knew he would be recieving mre of them. Percy then said, "Annabeth, do you want to go to a restaurant before we pack? We can load some good food up onto the ship, I mean." He was unreasonably happy when Annabeth agreed eagerly, even though he knew she would. They headed into New Rome, and found a great Italian place. After eating their fill, Percy paid, and told the cook to prepare a lot more and he would be there later to pick it up. As they left, Percy was feeling very satisfied. He stopped Annabeth by the little park, without quite knowing why. He whispered without thinking, "I love you." Annabeth looked at him, smiled, and kissed him. Percy felt great. He was right, today was the best day of his life. They broke apart, and kept walking back to the Argo II. "Leo! Is everything ready for departure? I ordered some nice food at a restaurant, I'll load it up later!" Percy shouted. He had a feeling they'd need that food. Especially if they planned on bring Ella with them. The rest of the day passed in a blur. Percy was getting to know the Romans who were going, and preparing the ship. The Romans who had decided to go were Jason and Reyna, praetors; Frank, Hazel, and Bobby, from the fifth cohort; Wilkes, Anne, and Edward, from the fourth; Hank, Jake, and Hannah, from the third; Augusta, Wilfred, and Christian, from the second; and John, Patrick, and Roger, from the first. Together with the Greeks, there were a little over thirty warriors going. Surprisingly, Percy got along quite well with all of them. But, Percy thought, some of these people may bring us some problems. Piper and Reyna for instance, he had a bad feeling about them. One of the first things Percy got to do as ambassador was help choose a temporary leader while the praetors were gone. For they had no intention of letting Octavian take over the camp in their absence. In the end, they let the veterans govern, with several of Reyna's trusted advisors set up as leaders. Soon, they we ready to go. Percy felt a rush of anticipation. Despite this being air travel, he didn't think it would be so bad since it was a ship, but he was really worrying about Hazel. Before they boarded the ship, he asked Hazel about it. "I'll be fine. Besides, Leo told be there were stables on the ship, so I'll be able to bring Arion." Percy nodded, and boarded the ship, hand in hand with Annabeth. Category:The Mark of Athena (Yunhua98) Category:Chapter Page